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Europa & Palestine News « Europa & Middle East News

Workers Day: No Cause for Celebration for Palestinians Working in Israel

The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) issued Wednesday a press statement decrying Israel’s mistreatment, humiliation of Palestinian workers and denying them their basic rights.
May 1 1014, marks International Workers’ Day. For Palestinian workers, there is not much cause for celebration: the day is a painful reminder that another year has gone by and nothing has changed. Palestinians are still denied basic rights, including the right to earn a living without risking their lives.

The West Bank has been under Israeli military rule for nearly 47 years. As the occupying power, Israel is responsible for the well-being, dignity and livelihood of West Bank residents. Yet it acts in contravention of international law, exploiting natural resources in the West Bank for its own needs and those of Israeli settlers, while ignoring the needs of the Palestinian population. These resources – largely inArea C, which is under full Israeli control – include quarries, water sources, land for agricultural or industrial development, and tourist attractions. A case in point: even as Israel prevents Palestinians from developing modern and potentially more profitable agriculture by denying them access to most of the Jordan Valley as well as to most of its water, it allocates land and much water to settlements so that they can develop such agriculture.

This policy is a major underlying cause for the absence of an independent Palestinian economy, which could provide sufficient and profitable work opportunities for all or most Palestinians in the West Bank. In the present economic situation, the only option available to tens of thousands of Palestinians for earning a living is work within Israel, either with a work permit from Israeli authorities or illegally.

Israel has strict criteria for the approval of work permits and issues no more permits than the number fixed in an occasionally revised quota. The current (March 2014) quota is 47,350 work permits for Israel and the settlements; most of the quota has been utilized.

Workers with permits may enter Israel by one of eleven designated checkpoints throughout the West Bank. In June 2013, B’Tselem staff visited the Tarqumya and Eyal Checkpoints, through which Palestinians with work permits enter Israel. We found harsh conditions of overcrowding, long lines, and cases of humiliation during inspection. On Sundays, the number of Palestinians crossing through both checkpoints peaks at 4,500. The workers and their belongings are scanned with a metal detector. Then, they move on to stations where personnel check their fingerprints and their papers, including their entry permits. Some individuals are sent for an additional inspection procedure, which is at times humiliating. Although both checkpoints open at 4:00 A.M., hundreds of laborers arrive hours earlier, in the middle of the night, concerned they will not reach their workplaces in time due to the long lines and the chance of being sent for additional inspection. Despite the throngs of people waiting to cross, not all eight inspection stations are regularly staffed.

B’Tselem reported these findings to the head of the Land Crossings Authority at the Ministry of Defense whose office responded by saying that there are no long lines and no overcrowding at checkpoints. B’Tselem’s field researchers returned to Tarqumya Checkpoint on 1 September 2013 to and documented that fact that nothing had changed: many workers arrive at the checkpoint soon shortly after midnight and by the time it opened, at 3:30 A.M., the line was extremely long. Palestinians at the checkpoint also reported being sent for additional inspection procedure in designated rooms that are overcrowded and have neither seating nor any air conditioning. Read more here. Tens of thousands of Palestinians whose applications for work permits have been denied, or who do not meet Israel’s strict criteria to begin with, are forced to try and enter Israel without a permit. Estimates of the number of Palestinians working in Israel without permits range from 15,000 to 30,000. Israeli authorities do not offer a systemic solution to the problem, and prefer to deal with random individual cases. Every now then, soldiers are sent out on missions to “capture illegals”, involving the arrest, injury, and rarely even death, of people who are not considered a threat even by the security establishment. According to current (31 March 2014) figures provided by the Israel Prison Service, 1,424 Palestinians – including 22 minors – are being held in Israeli prisons for illegal entry into the country.

For Palestinian workers who regularly enter Israel illegally to earn a living, life is a constant struggle for survival and returning home safe and sound from work cannot be taken for granted. They live in constant anxiety, fearing arrest or injury. In such a reality, labor rights such as a minimum wage, reasonable work hours, and a pension scheme seem like a distant dream.

I.’A., a 46-year-old floorer by trade, told B’Tselem field research Musa Abu Hashhash on 25 April 2014 what it’s like to work in Israel without a permit:

Work without a permit means endless suffering, worry and fear from the second I leave home. I leave early in the morning, at the beginning of the week, and head to the [Separation] Barrier in the Ramadin area in the South Hebron Hills. From there I enter Israel with other laborers. Usually, I have to wait near the barrier for hours, until I’m sure it’s safe. There’ve been times when I waited a whole day but finally had to go back home and miss a week of work. Every trip to work costs me 100 shekels [approx. 30 USD], which are split between the Palestinian who drives me to barrier and the Israeli driver who takes me from the barrier to Beersheba [in Israel].

Once I reach my workplace, I make sure not to leave it. I stay in Beersheba for a week or two at a time. At the end of each work day, I stay on site with the other laborers. We have to sleep in rough condition in unfinished buildings, on the floor, with no electricity or bathroom. We never go out so that the police won’t catch us. If we need to buy something, one of us goes carefully to a grocery store. Mostly, we eat tinned food. Sometimes, we have to move from one building to another to sleep, so we won’t be caught in a police raid. It’s happened – and more than once – that the police raided the place we were in and we escaped.

The contractors who hire me know that I don’t have a permit to enter Israel and use that to exploit me. They pay me only about 250 shekels a day [approx. 80 USD] and when I tell them it’s too little when taking my experience into account, they tell me I have no choice because I have no permit. I’ve also had times when my employer wouldn’t pay me at the end of the month and threatened that if I insisted on getting the money, he’d report me to the police. I have five little children and my wife works as a nurse. If I had a work permit, I could go home every day and help out with the kids. I worry because I’m so far away from them and I try to talk to them on the phone at least once a day.

Israel must enable the development of a Palestinian economy in the West Bank to provide decent work opportunities for the local population. Until that development is realized, Israel must issue permits to Palestinians wishing to work in Israel – based on appropriate security checks – and must ensure workers’ rights are upheld. 

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Israeli Soldiers Detain Palestinian Five-year-old In Hebron, Videos - Friday, July 12, 2013 - kawther.salam

Europa & Palestine News « Europa & Middle East News

Israeli Soldiers Detain Palestinian Five-year-old In Hebron, Videos

B’Tselem for Human Rights has written urgently to the Legal Adviser in the occupied Palestinian territories, demanding his response to a grave incident in which soldiers detained a five-year-old boy in Hebron for two hours, after he threw a stone. The soldiers threatened the child and his parents, handcuffed and blindfolded the father, and handed the boy over to the Palestinian Police. Detaining a child below the age of criminal responsibility, especially one so young, has no legal justification.

On Tuesday, 9 July 2013, at around 3:30 P.M., seven soldiers and an officer detained Wadi’ Maswadeh, who is five years and nine months old (his birthdate on his mother’s ID card: 24 September 2007) close to ‘Abed checkpoint, near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, after he threw a stone. B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari, who was present at the scene, recorded the entire event on video.

After local residents who had gathered at the spot tried to intervene, the soldiers put the crying child into a jeep with another Palestinian resident and took him home. When they reached the house, the officer informed Wadi’s mother that he intended to hand him over to the Palestinian Police. The mother refused to let them take the child before his father, Karam, came home. About half an hour after Wadi’ was detained, Karam Maswadeh came home.

The officer informed Maswadeh that he was arresting his son in order to hand him over to the Palestinian Police. Meanwhile, Wadi’a had spent the entire time hiding behind a pile of mattresses in the house and crying. The parents made it clear to the officer that the child is five years old, but the officer insisted on taking him to the DCO and threatened them, saying that the army would arrest the father if they did not comply. The soldiers then made Karam and his son leave the house and walk to the army camp on a-Shuhada street.

Videos of the first part of the incident, recorded by B’Tselem’s field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari

“When I got home, I saw several soldiers standing at the entrance to my house. An officer came up to me and ordered me to get my son, Wadi’a. Before I got home, the soldiers had tried to persuade my wife to hand Wadi’a over, but she had refused to do it until I came back. The officer told me that he was going to arrest Wadi’a and hand him over to the Palestinian Coordination. I asked him: “Why arrest a five-year-old boy?” A soldier standing next to the officer showed me a stone and claimed that my son had thrown it, and that it had hit the car of a settler who was driving north, near ‘Abed checkpoint. I tried to persuade the officer not to take Wadi’ to the DCO, but he said that if I didn’t bring him, I’d be arrested. […] I went inside the house and got Wadi’, who was hiding there. He was crying.”

Wadi’ and his father were taken to the army base, where they were detained for half an hour. Then, the soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded Karam and walked him, in full public view, together with his son, to the Policeman’s checkpoint (56), where the soldiers detained them for another thirty minutes. At that point, a lieutenant colonel arrived whom the father, who speaks Hebrew, understood to be an Israeli coordination officer from the DCO. The officer questioned Wadi’ and asked him why he had thrown stones. He also reprimanded the soldiers for arresting the father and son in the presence of video cameras, and complained that “you’re harming our public image”. The officer made it clear to the soldiers that, when detainees are held with cameras around, they must be “treated nicely”. Then, one of the soldiers untied the father’s hands, removed his blindfold and gave him water. A few minutes later, an officer from the Palestinian DCO and several Palestinian policemen arrived. The soldiers handed Karam and Wadi’ Maswadeh over to them, and the two were taken to a Palestinian police station, where they were briefly questioned and released.

Vudeos of the second part of the incident, documented by a B’Tselem volunteer ‘Imad abu-Shamsiyeh:

The father and the son were detained at checkpoint near there house in the occupied city of Hebron

IDF Officer arrives: Video

Transfer to Palestinian Police

In her letter to the Legal Adviser to Judea and Samaria, B’Tselem Director Jessica Montell stated: “The footage clearly shows that this was not a mistake made by an individual soldier, but rather conduct that, to our alarm, was considered reasonable by all the military personnel involved, including senior officers. It is particularly troubling that none of them apparently thought any part of the incident wad problematic: not the fact that they scared a five-year-old boy out of his wits, nor threatening him and his parents to “hand him over” to the Palestinian Police, nor threatening to arrest the father on no legal grounds, nor handcuffing and blindfolding the father in front of his son.”.

Based on B’Tselem’s ongoing experience, there appears to be a procedure in which soldiers detain Palestinian minors suspected of stone throwing and transfer them to the Palestinian Police, at the Palestinian DCO. In the case at hand, the soldiers apparently acted according to that procedure, which does not, and cannot, have any legal grounds when the minor is below the age of criminal responsibility.

In the military judicial system in the West Bank, the age of criminal responsibility is 12, as in Israel. The legal meaning is that the security forces are not allowed to arrest or detain children under that age, even when they are suspected of having committed criminal offenses, and the authorities must deal with the law breaking in other ways. Indeed, B’Tselem has documented many incidents in which Israel minors under the age of criminal responsibility threw stones at Palestinians, and no measures were taken against them. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel signed, minors must be protected in criminal proceedings, especially when they are so young.

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July 12th, 2013 | Tags: Arrest a Child, B'Tselem, DCO, Detain, Five-Year-Old, Hebron, Human Rights, IDF, israeli soldiers, Karam Maswadeh, Manal al-Ja'bari, Palestinian | Category: Convention, Hebron, IDF, Israel, Occupation, PA,Palestine, UN, Zionism

Letter from a Political Negotiator to the International Community « Kawther Salam

Letter from a Political Negotiator to the International Community

رسالة من الدكتور عريقات تتحدث حول تدهور حالة الفلسطينيين ما بين سبتمبر 2011 – 2012

This is the first time that I post a anything received from Dr. Saeb Erekat, the so-called Chief Negotiator. I post it despite of my distrust and distance to him and what he does for several reasons, among them:

• The lack trust towards him because he never told the Palestinians honestly what he is doing through his secret and known contacts with and US and the Israeli government of the occupation
• His close proximity to USA and Israel and the American insistence that he be the ONLY Palestinian negotiator during the last two decades
• The sum of disasters that he brought us Palestinians through his activities, among them signing the agreements since Oslo until today without calling for the necessary referendums before putting his signature under such disadvantageous “agreements”
• The opulent and aristocratic decadency that he and his extended family afford themselves while they live in Jericho, Abu Dis and other Palestinian towns in the middle of the oppressed and ruinated Palestinians for whom it is normally hard to find a piece of bread for themselves and their families

Despite all my criticism against him and his activities, I been receiving more or less meaningful messages from him in the past. I think that publishing this last one is in the interest of the Palestinian people.

Below is the latest message that I received on Sep. 26 2012 from Dr. Erekat, where he talks openly about a set of facts after 45 years of Israeli zionist occupation, and specifically the changes of the facts on the ground due to the occupation between Sept. 2011 and Sept. 2012, specifically after President Abbas gave his previous speech at the United Nations requesting that the General Assembly States recognize Palestine as a state and full member of the UN. That request was rejected due to pressure from the US and the international zionist community, which supports the israeli occupation of Palestine and prolonging the colonial expansion of the zionist state.

The deterioration of the Palestine Situation – Palestine Liberation Organization – Negotiations Affairs Department – September 2012. (See the letter as PDF September 2011- September 2012).

September 2011- September 2012 – After 45 years of Israeli occupation, the daily reality in the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem (OPT), continues to deteriorate to the point where the two-state solution is almost inconceivable. The statistics below bear witness to the fact that Israel has no interest in meaningful negotiations. A non-violent and diplomatic way to protect Palestinian inalienable rights and to save the prospects of justice and peace is for Palestine to apply for membership in the most multilateral organization in the world, the United Nations.

Ahead of President Abbas’ speech in the UN General Assembly, we have collected some of the key figures regarding Israeli occupation and colonization policies within the Occupied Palestinian Territory between the last UNGA General Debate and today. The status quo is clearly untenable.

Between the 2011 and 2012 speeches of President Mahmoud Abbas to the UN:

… the Israeli settler population living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (OPT), grew by over 20,000 settlers. There are over half a million settlers living in the OPT today.

… Israel planned, in different stages (tendering, approvals), at least 11,096 housing units and hotel rooms for settlements in and around Occupied East Jerusalem. The new housing units, if approved, would house around 44,000 new Israeli settlers.

… 991 separate incidents of terrorist acts by Israeli settlers living illegally in the OPT were recorded, including shootings, physical assaults, arson attacks, murder of livestock, and the destruction of property and vehicles. At least 60 of these attacks were against Christian and Muslim religious institutions.

… Israeli forces demolished approximately 510 Palestinian structures in Area C, displacing close to 770 Palestinians.

In 2011, following the Quartet Statement of September 23:

•  November 17: the Israeli authorities published tenders for 2,190 housing units in settlements in four different locations in the West Bank. Out of the new tenders, 40 are in Ma’ale Adumim, 277 in Ariel and 277 in Efrat.
• November 27: the Israeli Ministry of Defense approved settlement construction plans for 238 housing units in Shilo settlement north east of Ramallah (aiming to separate Nablus from Ramallah).
• December 12: the Israeli Ministry of Defense approved the establishment of a new, permanent settlement near Efrat in the Bethlehem area (aiming to separate Bethlehem from Hebron).

… the UN reported that a record number of Palestinians were displaced as a result of home demolitions in 2011. More than 1,000 Palestinians in the OPT (including East Jerusalem) lost their homes, double the number from the previous year and the highest number since 2005.

… 560 Palestinian-owned structures, including 200 residential structures and 46 rainwater collection cisterns and pools, were demolished by the Israeli authorities. (ICHAD)

… the Israeli authorities demolished over 200 Palestinian-owned structures in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea area, displacing around 430 people and affecting the livelihoods of another 1,200 Palestinians. (OCHA)

• Israel demolished 46 Palestinian rainwater-harvesting cisterns, preventing Palestinians from even collecting rainwater, and 25 Palestinian wells primarily used for agricultural and residential use. The situation did not change during 2012.
• During the olive harvest, about 42% of applications submitted for permits to access Palestinian orchards in the areas behind the illegal wall were rejected. (OCHA)

 The situation today:

•  Since 2007, incidents of settler attacks against Palestinians have risen by an alarming 315%.

•  The UN reports that more than 250,000 Palestinians remain at risk of settler violence, 76,000 of whom are deemed to be at high risk.

•  Over the past four decades, the residency of 14,084 Palestinians has been revoked, directly impacting more than 20% of Palestinian families in occupied East Jerusalem. These residents are no longer permitted to live or work in their city. Of all the revocations that have been carried out from 1967 until today, about half have occurred since 2006.

•   The Israeli “Mayor” of the so-called “Jerusalem municipality” has proposed depriving Palestinian Jerusalemites east of the illegal wall of their Jerusalem IDs. If successful, this proposal would affect an estimated 80,000 of 361,000 Palestinians and would be the largest act of deportation and de-population of the City since the beginning of the occupation.

•   The Israeli military has destroyed over 3,300 Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem since 1967.

•   Because of Israeli restrictions, at least 160,000 Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem have no suitable or legal connection to water networks.

•   Israel continues to restrict Palestinians’ basic right to worship freely. This includes barring most Palestinians from accessing the Al Aqsa Mosque Compound and allowing only West Bank residents above 40 years of age to enter East Jerusalem and access the compound. 77.4% of Palestinians in the OPT are under the age of 30.

•   At Easter, Israel’s policies against Jerusalem are also prominent: While Christians from all over the world take part in Easter ceremonies in occupied East Jerusalem, indigenous many Palestinian Christians are prevented from worshipping in Jerusalem. Those who are granted access are forced to apply through a discriminatory permit regime, followed by humiliation at checkpoints on their way to worship.

•   Over 60% of the West Bank is considered Area C, where Israel retains extensive control, including over security, planning and zoning.

•   Water consumption dips to 20 liters/capita/day (l/c/d) in communities without water infrastructure, one fifth of the World Health Organization’s recommendation.

•   Communities depending on tankered water pay up to 400% more for every liter than those connected to the water network.

•   The Jordan Valley makes up 28.5% of the West Bank and is home to almost 60,000 Palestinians. There are 37 Israeli settlements in the area, with a population of 9,500 settlers in contravention of international law. 94% of the land is effectively off limits to Palestinians.

•  The Israeli settlers living in the Jordan valley consume the equivalent of one-third of the entire amount of water made available to all 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. (B’Tselem).

•   Approximately 18% of the West Bank has been designated as a closed military zone for training, or “firing zone”; this is roughly the same amount of the West Bank under full Palestinian authority.

•  The planned expansion area of the around 135 Israeli settlements in the OPT is 9 times larger than their built-up area. (B’Tselem).

•   Over 3,000 demolition orders are outstanding throughout the OPT, including 18 targeting schools.

•   In 2010, the estimated total cost of occupation to the Palestinian economy was $6.9 billion, a staggering 84.9% of GDP.

•   70% of Palestinians are refugees most of whom have been waiting 64 years for the recognition and implementation of their rights.

•   There is ongoing construction in ALL settlements within the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Israel’s actions make it patently clear that there is currently no prospect for meaningful negotiations. If the international community truly wants to resolve this conflict then the culture of impunity granted to Israel must come to an end. The Palestinian application to the United Nations is an effort to legitimize Palestine in the international arena and is a way to salvage the two-state solution. Self-determination is our sovereign right; international recognition is the legal and moral responsibility of the international community. All those who endorse the two-state solution along the 1967 borders, and wish to see a meaningful and peaceful resolution to this conflict, should vote in favour of admitting Palestine at the United Nations.

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